Within the One, Two Thousand
I climb on a chair to peer inside. The sunflower is really in there. My youngest is amazed that a seed no bigger than her fingernail is making this. And that one seed will turn into as many as 2000 seeds (they are really called the “fruit” of the plant) once the sunflower blooms and […]
A Great Mother Shared This
Our dear family friends return for their 4th annual visit. Each time, I learn so much from just listening to the mother. I learn so much, in fact, that I want her to write a book for the rest of the world. Watching this mother with her five children reminds me of all the things […]
“You can’t see me; I’m kneeling down.”
This morning in church, the pastor kneels down in worship during his sermon. Practically speaking, nobody can see him. Folks strain their heads, and he calls out, “You can’t see me! I’m kneeling down!” That’s right. In a sermon on taking the lowest place, on humbling oneself, and on exalting the name of Jesus instead […]
Even if it Means Less
I see a black swallowtail in the garden. By the two rows of spots and the fast wings beating (females have one row of spots, apparently, and they beat their wings slowly), I know it’s a male. And I know what he wants: the purple buddleja flowers. We grow light purple and dark purple, and […]
Go Ahead
I read today that one of the results of shame is a loss of creativity. I recall my fascination with the emotion of shame: In all my years of graduate study on shame, I found over and over again that shame forces a person to hide. In my own career, I’m most interested in how […]
When You Feel Held Back
I see sunflowers all over the neighborhood now. Everywhere I look, it seems a neighbor has a glorious patch of sunflowers saluting the sun. My single sunflower has no bloom yet. She pitifully goes through the motions, following that sun, like an Olympian practicing a rotation for the real event. She’s absolutely hidden inside a […]
A Fan and a Bowl of Ice
We have little window air conditioning units, but not in our bedroom. I love a cold bedroom, and this heat is just not cooperating with me. I read online that you can quickly cool a room if you position your fan in front of a large bowl of ice. I set up my system earnestly […]
Becoming a Soothing Presence
I begin to wonder what to do with all the cucumbers from the garden. I’m picking two or three a day, and I’m not prepared for this. I have dreams of pickling, but I also want to do something with all these pickles before the end of the afternoon. We want cucumber salad! We thinly […]
Before Cable TV and Home Computers, My Sister and I Did This
This morning, we rediscover the joy of the domino effect. I tell my daughters and their friends that–long before home computers and cable television–my sister and I would spend afternoons creating our own fun with our own minds. For example, we were obsessed with falling tile circuits. We used scrabble pieces and set up huge […]
All the Ways You Persevere
Today in church, the pastor remarks that God makes us dwell in dark places, and one of the reasons is to learn perseverance. How true! I look back at those dark places and realize I did learn perseverance. Perseverance doesn’t end with itself; it leads to character and then hope. All those difficult things were […]